To separate and remove impurities in a sample of ethyl acetate and obtain a pure sample, the most efficient and cost-effective technique is distillation, specifically fractional distillation.Fractional distillation is a separation technique that relies on the differences in boiling points of the components in a liquid mixture. Ethyl acetate has a boiling point of 77.1C 170.8F . By heating the mixture, the components with lower boiling points will vaporize first, followed by those with higher boiling points.Here's a step-by-step guide to purify ethyl acetate using fractional distillation:1. Set up the fractional distillation apparatus, which includes a round-bottom flask, a fractionating column, a condenser, and a collection flask.2. Pour the impure ethyl acetate sample into the round-bottom flask.3. Heat the round-bottom flask gently using a heating mantle or a water bath. Make sure to control the temperature to avoid overheating the sample.4. As the temperature rises, the components with lower boiling points will vaporize and rise through the fractionating column. The column is packed with glass beads or other materials to provide a large surface area for the vapors to condense and re-vaporize, promoting separation.5. The vapors will then pass through the condenser, where they will cool down and condense back into liquid form.6. Collect the condensed liquid in the collection flask. Monitor the temperature throughout the process to ensure that you are collecting the desired component ethyl acetate and not other impurities.7. Once the temperature starts to rise above the boiling point of ethyl acetate, stop the distillation process. This indicates that the majority of the ethyl acetate has been collected, and other higher boiling point impurities are starting to come over.8. The collected liquid in the collection flask should now be a purified sample of ethyl acetate, free from impurities with different boiling points.It's important to note that fractional distillation may not remove impurities with very similar boiling points to ethyl acetate. In such cases, additional purification techniques, such as liquid-liquid extraction or chromatography, may be required. However, for most applications, fractional distillation is an efficient and cost-effective method for purifying ethyl acetate.